I can’t believe it’s already Thursday! The week has really flown by for me, I guess because we had Monday off work. I wish I had EVERY Monday off. I’ve been doing pretty well eating wise (and drinking wise) this week…and I’ve worked out every since Sunday, woohoo. These have been my workouts so far this week.

Sunday – 4 mile run/walk
Monday – Zumba Cardio Party DVD
Tuesday – last day with my Trainer (sad face) did Bear Crawls while she pulled me, burpees, and core.
Wednesday – 3 mile run
Thursday – 35 mins on the step-mill

Gooey Cheese & Layers of Creamy Spinach & Pasta, yum!

I had the urge to try something new this week, so I rifled through the ginormous pile of cookbooks I rarely use. I LOVE cookbooks…don’t get me wrong… but it’s just so easy to find recipes online! While I was flipping through my Best of Cooking Light cookbook this recipe caught my eye.

Do this first!! I used a colander to squeeze all the liquid out of the thawed spinach. It worked really well!

Chicken Florentine Lasagna (adapted from Cooking Light)
makes 4 servings
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:
1 ½ tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 (12-ounce) cans evaporated skim milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Cooking spray
6 no-boil lasagna noodles
1-1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded Mozzarella cheese

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Melt margarine in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add flour; cook 30
seconds, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until
blended. Stir in salt and nutmeg; cook until thick, stirring constantly (about
3 minutes).

3. Spread 1/2 cup sauce in bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish coated with
cooking spray. Arrange 2 noodles over sauce; top with half of chicken and half
of spinach. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon pepper; top with 3/4 cup sauce. Repeat
layers, ending with noodles. Spread remaining sauce over noodles.

4. Cover and bake at 450 degrees for 25 minutes or until noodles are tender and sauce is
bubbly. Uncover and top with cheese; bake an additional 5 minutes. Let stand 5
minutes.

The sauce came out perfectly creamy.

Now how did it taste? I would give it a 7 out of 10. It needed a little somethin somethin to jazz it up. Maybe some Parmesan or lemon juice?

Let the Layering begin!

I would make this again for sure, but I would add some pizzaz to it next time. I was thinking a little sun dried tomato would be great!

Fresh out of the oven! It was bubbling up a storm.

For 450 Calories a serving this makes a wonderful dinner! It was just enough food that I left the table satisfied.

450 Calories worth of goodness

See you for Food Fact Friday!